Web, Branding & Print Design for Legal Marketing

Schiff Hardin

Website

Schiff Hardin's new website was part of an all-new legal marketing brand design. We created a bold, journalistic look that features custom black and white photography.

Bucking the pervasive web trend of horizontal navigation, we employed a left vertical nav design. Bold CSS Web fonts give the pages a strong editorial feel. Next generation JavaScript-reveal features make pages more scannable with tap to reveal further detail.

K&L Gates

Brand

In 2007, K&L Gates was formed as a result of a law firm combination between Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Preston Gates & Ellis. In creating the new name, emphasis was given to highlighting Bill Gates, Sr. in the name.

In designing the visual brand, we combined fluid, bright watercolor gradients with more precise vector lines and paths. Large single word headlines such as 'Fusion' were floated over the colors.

After seven years, the red vertical divider in the logo was dropped to signify established unity in the 2,000 lawyer international firm.

Keker & Van Nest

Brand and Website

San Francisco's litigation powerhouse firm of Keker & Van Nest wanted to update its brand and more tightly focus its message. Working closely with key partners at KVN and positioning/branding expert Elonide Semmes at Right Hat, we honed the firm's core message to "We take the tough cases."

The site design features bold illustrations, a carefully curated color palette and clean fonts.

It was one of the first legal websites to include a mobile friendly smartphone design.

McKee Nelson

Website

This law firm's foundational rally cry, "Work. Play. Grow." became the key driver in their careers microsite.

Shearman & Sterling

Brand

Shearman & Sterling was founded in New York City in 1873 with clients including Henry Ford and the Rockefeller family. It is regarded as forming part of the group of elite American "white shoe" law firms.

However, entering into the new millenium, their brand was fractured and outdated. Working with Shearman marketing leaders in three continents along with legal marketing experts from Zeughauser Group, we carefully crafted a new positioning and design brand that addressed every form of web and printed communication that the firm produced.

Comprehensive research and client interviews resulted in "Aligned for Excellence" as the firm's tagline. A visual metaphor of bridges was adopted to reinforce the connections of clients, continents and lawyers.

The Art of Robots

Book DesignChronicle Books / Blue Sky Studios / Twentieth Century Fox

Chronicle Books came to us with a treasure trove of paintings, sketches and doodles from the highly anticipated animated film, 'Robots.'

We designed a 144-page large format full color book that shows the inspirational behind-the-scenes making of 'Robots' from Academy Award® winning director Chris Wedge.

These highly successful books take parents and children alike into the creative process behind the film.

Skadden Year in Review

Collateral

Skadden wanted to trumpet this annual report with stories, facts and figures which were designed to reinforce their strong color and playful typographic brand.

We used these elements to reinforce strong grids and evoke shapes to propel their message.

Baker Hostetler

Website

BakerHostetler is an AmLaw 100 law firm with some of the largest clients around the globe. Yet their old website was dense, plain and difficult to read.

In creating its new site, we wanted to reflect the firm's commitment to client care and the highest level of service while projecting a confident yet friendly voice. We did this through the use of carefully selected colors and textures, combined with contrasting typefaces and sizes that makes scanning pages much faster and more pleasing.

LMA Tech Conference Ads

In 2011, with the economy coming back, many law firm marketers felt pressure to fill many different roles within their firms.

We designed a series of web banners and ads which highlighted a few of the roles that each person might be called upon to handle depending on the need of the day. The "Today I am a" series was born.

Latham & Watkins

German Office Capabilities Brochure

Latham & Watkins LLP is the world’s largest law firm by revenue and employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

When the firm was expanding in Europe, we assisted by designing an A4 tri-fold new German offices brochure that centered on fast-paced imagery while establishing a strong voice.

Cresa: 20 Years

Web Timeline

Everyone loves timelines — web visitors, clients and, most importantly, designers :-) We worked with this large commercial real estate client to outline two decades of milestones by employing the firm's rich graphical brand elements to create the story.

Waller

Website

The Waller law firm has grown beyond its Tennessee roots to become a leading player in the Southeast healthcare, M&A, litigation and real estate markets.

In designing their new website, we were tasked with creating a clear cut, easy to navigate branded site that incorporates focus on industries, advanced search and thorough attorney bios for a start. The tabbed interface within Industries keeps information always within reach.

Welton Investment

Carmel, California-based Welton Investment Corporation reached out to us to create a new brand and website for the successful firm.

After much discussion and consensus, we developed numerous marks but one clear winner rose unanimously to the top. A stylized yellow-gold "W" sits atop the Bodoni wordmark.

Latham Recruiting

Display Ads

Latham & Watkins wanted to increase perception that it is indeed a top firm to consider for new lawyers with a focus on work/life balance. We vetted candidates, conducted interviews and set up custom photo shoots to convey the real personalities of the people.

Ads ran in leading legal and tech magazines for several months.

Laura Dean Dancers and Musicians

Cal Performances - UC Berkeley

Laura Dean's masterful choreography is know for her dancers' trademark 'spinning top' motion. When she showcased a series of performances in the Midwest and at UC Berkeley, we wanted to design a poster that evoked her unique choreography.

Ms. Dean called the poster the "most unique and best interpretation" of her work to date.

Littler

Logo

This employment law giant wanted a new logo to move away from 'Littler Mendleson' in large display settings. We created a friendly but bold upper and lower case word treatment that dotted the "i" with Littler blue.

The mark has been applied to print, advertising and the web and has been very successful at increasing brand recognition.

Pillsbury Careers

Microsite

Pillsbury was faced with replacing their out of date all Flash careers website. We were tasked with bringing the general site's look and feel to a dynamic new recruiting microsite.

Our focus became the logical flow of the prospect's web visit and Pillsbury's desire to emphasize an international scope of matters and offices. Modern Javascript effects are used to keep information brief and scannable.

Miller Chevalier

Logo and Website

Miller Chevalier prides itself on navigating the intersection of the federal government and the global economy. When the firm came to us for a new brand, our logo inspiration was the US Declaration of Independence.

We created a namemark that ended with a calligraphic flourish below it like so many signatures on the historic document. (We're looking at you, John Hancock!)

In designing the website, we worked with noted law firm strategist Elonide Semmes who coined, "We see opportunities for you everywhere."

EFF CAFE

LogoTo support the evolution of digital music distribution, the EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation launched a campaign to preserve the public's ability to exercise all lawful uses of music and digital audio equipment.

The campaign, dubbed 'Consortium for Audiovisual Free Expression' (CAFE), emphasized that music fans should not be forced to relinquish important rights like fair use and free speech because others fear they will abuse those rights.

We created an illustration designed to focus on the ears of music creators and listeners combined with the notion of free speech. Irregular shapes help pull the logo off the digital page.

Latham London Party

Invitation

We thought "outside the bottle" for this Latham & Watkins new London offices party. Combining a classic architectural blueprint with some very non-standard imagery, we hired a practicing architect to draw the plans for the invitation.

LMA Splash!

Logo

Every week the LMA Bay Area emails its weekly Splash! newsletter to the membership. The chapter wanted to create a new, exciting mark that would project that little something extra and lighthearted for the Friday afternoon release time.

We broke the word down to its core meaning and utilized a simple design, branded with the chapter's colors.

Everybody into the pool!

Latham Careers

Brochure

Featuring a die-cut cover peeking in on some of Latham & Watkins' partners and associates, we created a careers brochure that highlighted attorneys from around the world.

Toning down from the previous two years, the piece has a more mature and complex color palette. However contrast was achieved by large pull quotes for each person.

Prior to production, we authored a detailed image style guidelines document so that photographers from three continents could shoot in a unified style for the job.